Facing a busy spine surgery market, Brandon Hirsch, MD, is turning his attention to digital growth, advocacy and sharpening his own skillset in 2026.
Dr. Hirsch, of Newport Beach, Calif.-based DISC Surgery Center, shared his practice growth outlook, during an upcoming episode of “Becker’s Spine and Orthopedic Podcast.”
Note: This is an edited excerpt.
Question: How are you thinking about growth in your own practice next year?
Dr. Brandon Hirsch: So I’m in a somewhat unique practice environment of independent private practices in a market in Southern California, which has a lot of spine surgeons and has a lot of patients, but is fairly saturated. I’m always thinking about growth in patient volume and growth in digital footprint, and that will be a big part of what I focus on in early 2026. Just like the growth of telemedicine comes growth in how patients find physicians, and these days, if you’re not visible online it’s almost as if your practice doesn’t exist in real life, because that’s just the reality of how people are searching for healthcare.
Growing aspects of my practice that are somewhat specialty, like spinal endoscopy, disc replacement are always going to be growth goals. In 2026, I’ll have more of an involvement in advocacy discussions, both at the society level and at the grassroots physician organization level. The election cycle toward the end of the year is probably going to be pushing a lot of these potential reform items up to the front of the conversation.
Q: What do you think will be the biggest disrupter to spine surgery next year?
BH: Disruption in spine surgery is tough to predict, but I know that the adoption of endoscopy and the ways that surgeons are using it is rapidly progressing. There’s even more and more ability for surgeons to discuss cases with other surgeons in their local market, and that allows for even more conversation among surgeons. I have several surgeons just in my own market where I’ll plan to go to observe their cases, and they may or may not come to observe my cases. That is how we drive real progress and innovation and improvement in the surgical techniques that we offer. On the digital media side of things, at least for my practice, putting resources to transform your online presence will bring significant change in the practice volume and types of patients that are coming to see me.
